During a surgical procedure, it is common for an operator to use one or more surgical instruments throughout the surgical procedure. Some of the various surgical instruments may include re-usable instruments and/or disposable instruments. After a completed or partial surgical procedure, the single-use surgical instruments are disposed of in proper waste compartments, while the multi-use surgical instruments are cleaned and sterilized by common cleaning procedures known in the art.
Typically, a common cleaning procedure includes an initial “pre-soak” step and a final sterilization step. In the “pre-soak” step, the multi-use instrument is soaked in common cleaning agents that are commonly found in hospitals and clinics. These common cleaning agents usually contain enzyme solutions that are necessary to dissolve blood from blood-soiled surgical instruments. Afterwards, in the sterilization step, the instruments are sterilized by an autoclave system, gamma sterilization, and/or ethylene oxide (ETO) system that prepares the instruments for use in a later surgical procedure.
In certain situations, the single-use surgical instruments are, mistakenly or negligibly, sterilized in the same manner as multi-use instruments and then re-used in another surgical procedure. However, due to certain manufacturing designs and other limitations, single-use instruments are not intended to be sterilized and re-used, since re-using may create a potential risk due to certain parts being made from unsterilizable and/or unautoclavable components or cross infection caused by microbiological contamination between surgical procedures.